Charities are chosen to share Santa’s grotto gift
THREE Rochdale charities have been chosen to receive the money raised at Rochdale Exchange’s Christmas grotto throughout December.
Springhill Hospice, Rochdale Connections Trust and Pennine Animal Welfare Society were picked after more than 220 people voted in a social media poll.
From Saturday, December 2 to Friday, December 23, shoppers and grottogoers will have another chance to choose which of the three selected charities they would like to see receive the proceeds.
Nominations can be placed via three token boxes in the centre and the funds will then be split between the organisations.
Springhill chief executive Julie Halliwell said: “After such a generous donation from last year’s grotto, we couldn’t believe how many people had chosen Springhill Hospice again,” “Receiving the funds from the grotto will directly benefit our patients, their families and carers.”
Exchange manager Lorenzo O’Reilly said: “Last year we managed to raise more than £3,500 from the Santa’s Grotto, which we gave to Petrus, Springhill Hospice and RSPCA Rochdale. “So, this year we opened the selection up to the Rochdale community once again find out which charities are close to their hearts.
“Throughout the nominations process on our social media channels we received an unbelievable response from shoppers, with 224 comments for more than 20 charities,” Lorenzo added.
“Rochdale Exchange is an integral part of the town’s community and as a team we really enjoy being involved in its activities as well as giving back to our shoppers. As a result, we felt it was extremely important that the Christmas charities were chosen by local peo- ●●Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre manager Lorenzo O’Reilly (inset) said there had been an ‘unbelievable’ response to the nomination process for the Santa’s grotto cash ple themselves, so we are delighted that Rochdale Connections Trust, Springhill Hospice and PAWS have made our shortlist.
“From the December 2, we will be encouraging families visiting Santa and shoppers at Rochdale Exchange to pick up a token and vote for their favourite charity,” he said. “We would like to thank everyone taking part in our initiative once again and we look forward to seeing people cast their votes, whilst enjoying their time at our annual grotto.”